SINGAPORE: Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch? Okay, so the folks at Play! Entertainment aren’t offering hot meals, but they are offering to lend you their DVDs for free.

“This might sound really cliched, but we, the founders of Play, are movie lovers. We watch four to five films a week,” said Gina Tan, the company’s marketing and operations director.

“Having started this business in the heartlands, we’ve realised that people are really price-sensitive. They might not want to spend so much for entertainment — but why should they be deprived of it?

“So, we decided: Why don’t we give people free movies? Wouldn’t it be great to have young kids growing up on movies and developing discerning tastes in film?”

Play! is an organisation that sells and rents movies and console games via automated machines. They have 10 24-hour kiosks all over the island located near MRT stations and bus interchanges, as well as in suburban shopping malls such as Toa Payoh Hub, Tiong Bahru Plaza and West Mall.

Last month, they began offering free DVD rentals. With this programme, you get to rent one DVD at no charge for one day. The selection of 10 titles offered at a time is generated by the system and rotated hourly. That means that when you return your DVD, you’ll immediately have a new list of titles to choose from.

To rent DVDs for free, you simply have to register at the kiosk with your identification card and thumbprint before you gain immediate access to free rentals. There are no deposits or hidden costs, and you can rent as many movies as you like.

The only slight downside is that these aren’t newly-released DVDs, but movies that have been available on DVD for 12 months or more. But hey, this is your chance to catch up on all the movies you’ve missed.

In any case, you won’t have to worry about missing out on this deal, because it will go on “as long as Play! is living”, according to Tan. - TODAY/rose